Reading to them was one of my favorite things to do with my kids when they were little, but it’s a long way from Goodnight Moon to this week’s list of recommended reads, although “bee brain” may have got their attention. Please take a minute to complete our The Niche reader survey for a chance …
Recommended reads: Bee brain, COVID, from Russia with stem cells, pubs Read More »
One of the most common questions that patients have asked me over the last decade is, “how much does stem cell therapy cost?” They actually seem most often to want to know more specifically how much the treatments should cost. To try to authoritatively answer this we need data from the present and past along …
Where do things stand today in 2020 with IPS cell research? It’s been 14 years since they were first reported, but they continue to make news. Back in 2006 I was wrapping up my postdoc with Bob Eisenman at The Hutch in Seattle, largely studying Myc, when Shinya Yamanaka published his first induced pluripotent stem …
IPS cell field update: easy culture, Parkinson’s, scarring, immune cells, & mutations Read More »
As part of its stepped up approach to unproven stem cell marketing, the FDA issued another warning letter to a perinatal (birth-related) stem cell supplier. It’s interesting to see the FDA doing more specifically about suppliers and not just focusing on clinics. It seems that in some subsectors of the stem cell arena that certain …
FDA warns another perinatal stem cell supplier Stemell Read More »
Stem cells for MS? How promising is that? A new paper gives stronger reason for hope, but unfortunately this story is more complex than it seems on first glance. New Paper The idea of using a stem cell-related approach to treat multiple sclerosis (MS) has been around for a long time holding major promise, but …
Upbeat Burt team pub on stem cells for MS comes with uneasy back story Read More »
What is stem cell media? When us scientists hear the phrase “stem cell media” we usually think about the liquid food that we feed our stem cells in the lab, which resembles a kind of nutrient-rich Kool-aid, but another kind of stem cell media consists of the news coverage of stem cells. This other kind …
Grading 3 stem cell media reports on clinical science: vision, MS, & paralysis Read More »
I was really sad when I heard about John McCain’s diagnosis with a glioblastoma, a particularly nasty type of brain tumor that we study in my lab when it shows up in children. My own battle with prostate cancer starting almost 8 years ago might have sensitized me to this news even though I’m in …
3 Ways Stem Cells Theoretically May Help John McCain Beat Brain Tumor Read More »
2,000 is a big number. As of this week I’ve now published 2,000 posts here on The Niche since I started back in early 2010. I can’t quite believe it myself. To celebrate that milestone, I have revamped The Niche in terms of its organization and style with the help of a very skilled web …
The Niche’s 2,000th post: where do we go from here? Read More »
Happy science Friday and here’s a TGIF list of recent stem cell news and papers. The FDA warning letter to Richard Burt of Northwestern related to noncompliance issues with his stem cell clinic trial for MS has dominated the news recently, but some other notable things have happened as well on stem cells and more …
The House Subcommittee on Research and Technology on Tuesday held a CRISPR hearing: “The Science and Ethics of Genetically Engineered Human DNA”. At the meeting, CRISPR pioneer Dr. Jennifer Doudna gave testimony along with Dr. Victor Dzau who is the President of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), Dr. …
Doudna & Others Testify to Congress on CRISPR, Human Germline Editing Read More »